On July 28, Curtis Lang, former president of United Dairy Workers of Le Mars, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa to one year in prison, six months of home confinement and three years of supervised release for embezzling funds from the Le Mars (near Sioux City) union. He also was ordered to pay $95,223 in restitution and a $100 special assessment. Lang had pleaded guilty in May to one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $45,040 after being indicted in March. The actions follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… Read More ➡

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) has a long tradition of rewarding its friends with lavish wages and salaries for “ghost jobs.” Paul Moe now wishes he was present more often. On July 20, Moe, foreman for a shipping company at Port of Elizabeth, N.J., was charged in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey with multiple counts of wire fraud related to his collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in nonexistent work. He was released on $250,000 bail. Moe’s lawyer asserts no crime was committed. Given the evidence, this may be a hard case to defend. The charges follow a probe by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards, Office of Inspector General, and Employee Benefits Security Administration, along with the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.

Paul Moe Sr., now 66, a resident of Atlantic Highlands, N.J., during September 2015-March 2017 was employed full-time at Port of … Read More ➡

On July 18, Clementine Ray, former president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2109, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to three years of probation for records fraud against the Temple union. She also was ordered to pay $4,067 in restitution. Ray had pleaded guilty in May to a superseding information count after being charged with wire fraud in February. The actions follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… Read More ➡

On July 18, Charles Hill, former financial secretary of Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers Local 46, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on one count of embezzling $7,000 in funds from the Avonmore (Westmoreland County), Pa.-based union. The indictment follows an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… Read More ➡

On July 17, Ashley Cline, former office manager for Laborers International Union of North America Local 155, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho to four years of probation and ordered to pay $30,776 in restitution and a $1,000 fine for wire fraud against the Idaho Falls union. She had pleaded guilty in January immediately after being indicted. The actions follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… Read More ➡

For nearly a half-decade Michael Lackey enhanced his lifestyle by taking from the union till. Over the next year, he’ll be downsizing. On July 13, Lackey, former president of Communications Workers of America Local 3901, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama to a year and a day in prison, and three years of supervised probation, for his theft of $69,193 in funds from the Oxford, Ala.-based union. He also was ordered to pay full restitution. Lackey had been indicted last November, and pleaded guilty this January. The actions follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. He is set to report to prison on September 11.

Michael Lackey, now 44, a resident of Bremen, Ga., was elected Local 3901 president in October 2008. According to federal prosecutors, he did more than manage union funds. Starting in February 2010, he conducted … Read More ➡

For David Sager, it was a reasonable tradeoff. Put another way, he could have done worse. On June 30, Sager, formerly president of United Steelworkers Local 5000, pleaded guilty in Cleveland federal court to one charge each of obstruction of justice, making false statements to law enforcement, and filing a false tax return. In return, prosecutors agreed to drop 29 other charges, mostly related to his embezzling over $180,000 in funds from the Middleburg, Ohio union and extracting over $200,000 in payments from unionized Great Lakes shipping companies in exchange for his assurance that he would go easy on them come contract renewal time. Sager had been indicted last September and this April. The actions follow a probe by the IRS and the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.

Union Corruption Update has analyzed this case twice before (here and here). David Sager, now 59, a resident … Read More ➡

On July 11, Jeffrey Davies, former president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 183, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska to one year in prison and three years of probation for embezzling funds from the Anchorage-based union. He also was ordered to pay $92,766 in restitution and a $100 fine. Davies had pleaded guilty in June 2016 after being indicted on one count of embezzlement in December 2015. The union represents employees of the Alaska Railroad, a state-chartered and owned corporation. The actions follow a joint investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… Read More ➡

It’s a good thing that International Association of Machinists Local S6 is insured. Otherwise, it might not be able to recover from losses created by Ryan Jones. Last week, Jones, former Local S6 secretary-treasurer, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the District of Maine for embezzling more than $280,000 in funds over a four-and-a-half-year period from the union, which represents workers at the Bath Iron Works shipbuilding complex. The indictment follows a joint investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Labor. If convicted, Jones faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Bath Iron Works (BIW), located along the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, is one of the nation’s largest shipbuilders. A subsidiary of General Dynamics since 1995, BIW is the fifth-largest employer in the state. As many of its 6,000 employees are unionized, that translates into a sizable pot of member dues. Ryan … Read More ➡

International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 25 has a well-earned reputation as the bad boys of Boston-area organized labor. Indeed, the union has few peers anywhere when it comes to intimidation. A Boston federal jury last Thursday finished hearing several days of testimony in the case of four local members accused of terrorizing Padma Lakshmi, host of Top Chef, and other members of the popular reality TV show’s nonunion production crew, back in June 2014 for crossing a picket line. The incident occurred outside a restaurant where a segment was to be filmed. Lakshmi testified on Monday that she was “petrified” and “paralyzed with fear.” Evidence indicates this “picket line,” contrary to union assertions, was a shakedown. A fifth Local 25 member already had been sentenced in December. Verdicts are expected soon.

Teamsters Local 25, based in Charlestown (Boston), Mass., has been on the Union Corruption Update radar screen for … Read More ➡